Update
The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
Now on Kindle for 99 cents!
All royalties go to The Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund to help wounded veterans. (Print
royalties go directly. Kindle ones come to me and I'll forward.
Made my healthy SOS for dinner Monday. Good weather for it.
Snow tonight and in the morning. I'm speaking to Pints and Politics Tuesday
evening at 5:30 pm CST. Topic is "Running as a R in a D+20 District."
~Bob
General News and Comment
Common Right to Work
Myths. From Wisconsin Manufacturing and
Commerce.
The Middle Class Argument. Unions often claim
that Right to Work hurts the middle class. However, the objective data
show that Right to Work states have faster job growth, faster wage growth
and higher disposable income. It’s unclear how any of those economic measures
are bad for the middle class. The Poverty Argument. Opponents often
argue that Right to Work will reduce wages and lead to greater reliance on
public welfare programs. On the contrary, welfare utilization is actually
lower in Right to Work states at 5.8 TANF recipients per thousand in
2013. That’s less than half the rate of 16.7 welfare recipients per
thousand residents in forced-union states. The Anti-Union Argument. Union
leaders often characterize Right to Work as a policy to harm unions, but
the data shows otherwise. In the period from 2010-2013, Right to Work
states collectively grew union membership by 57,000 workers, while
forced-union states actually lost 248,000 union members. The Worker
Training Argument. Opponents argue Right to Work will jeopardize
training in the construction trades, but that has not been the experience
in other states. In Wisconsin ,
skilled training is paid for by employers and is not dependent upon union
dues. Moreover, Right to Work states have 28% more operating engineers
employed per capita than forced-union states. The Free-Rider Argument. Union
leaders claim Right to Work is unfair because the union is required to
represent all employees, even if they do not pay dues. However, these
“exclusive representation” agreements are not mandatory and unions are not
required to negotiate these clauses into their contract.
Interesting: ‘Gotcha’ questions might help Walker
win. By Cynthia M. Allen
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/opinion/column/guest/gotcha-questions-might-help-walker-win----cynthia/article_3479068b-41fe-5d6a-81e6-c83cc8b09521.html
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/opinion/column/guest/gotcha-questions-might-help-walker-win----cynthia/article_3479068b-41fe-5d6a-81e6-c83cc8b09521.html
Excerpt: These days, if you’re running for public office,
inane questions from the media are right up there with death and taxes — an
absolute certainty. And, let’s be honest, this is particularly true if there’s
an “R” after your name. Just ask 2016 presidential GOP hopeful and Wisconsin
Gov. Scott Walker. He’s been raked over the coals these past couple of weeks
for his honest but not always artful responses to three questions of dubious
relevance to anything Walker will encounter as governor or might encounter as
president — one related to evolution (a media favorite), another about the
religious affiliation of President Obama and a third about former New York
Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s comments about the president’s patriotism. (The correct
answer to these gotcha questions is: "I cannot know what is in anyone's
heart, so we can only judge Obama's love of country by his actions. As to
evolution, I see no contradictions with my Christian faith with how God made
everything. But none of these questions are among the thousands of policy
decisions which the next president must make, and with a responsible media
should concentrate on. " ~Bob)
Beast Is Slain, Publication Admits Walker
Excerpt: Yesterday, Daily
Beast, acting off of the piece in Jezebel, reported
that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker had removed a provision in his proposed budget
that required universities to report rapes on their campuses. ... Well, it
turns out the University
of Wisconsin
Scott Walker is Right, Leadership Matters More Than
Expertise. By Daniel Greenfield
Excerpt: Think of a mistake that we made in international
affairs. At the time that we were making it, a phalanx of foreign policy
experts was standing behind it. It might be a lonely orphan idea today, but
last year you could have thrown a rock at a roomful of PhDs without hitting a
single person who disagreed with it. When the Tahrir Square protests in Egypt were in
their heyday, I had trouble finding any foreign policy people who would even
entertain the idea that we should continue backing Mubarak. Back then the
revolution seemed inevitable. But I correctly predicted Islamist takeovers and
counterrevolutions that would topple them because I didn’t see international
relations through the lens of a grand theory.
The Clinton
Foundation, Previewing Life under Another Clinton
Excerpt: So what were, or are, the Clinton Global Initiative
and Clinton Foundation? Lots of former presidents have their libraries and
related think tanks, their charities, their efforts at remaining in national
life after their presidency. Jimmy Carter founded Habitat for Humanity. But for
Bill -- and Hillary, who was about to begin a senatorial career at the moment
she thought of herself as “dead broke” -- that wasn’t enough. They wanted or
needed something bigger. Something with a global reach; something that didn’t
work with any one signature good cause but with all of them. Something that
could bring in any celebrity -- even Natalie Portman and her dog with first-class tickets.
Something on an epic scale, a group that would think nothing of spending more than $10 million a year on
travel costs alone. The organization would wed enormous financial resources
-- $2 billion -- with unimpeachable motives -- er, maybe a bad word choice. It
would combine wealth on an unimaginable scale with an unparalleled ability to
generate good press and publicity for their noble motives and actions Of course, foreign governments would want in on the act. Of course,
the line between the charitable initiatives and staffers’ corporate
consulting grew blurry. Of course there is an “undertow of transactionalism in
the glittering annual dinners, the fixation on celebrity, and a certain
contingent of donors whose charitable contributions and business interests
occupy an uncomfortable proximity.”
Eric Braverman Tried to Change the Clinton
Excerpt: Braverman, who had worked with Chelsea Clinton at
the prestigious McKinsey & Company consultancy, had been brought in with
the former first daughter’s support to help impose McKinsey-like management
rigor to a foundation that had grown into a $2 billion charitable powerhouse. But
in January, only weeks after the board's show of support and just a year and a
half after Braverman arrived, he abruptly resigned, and sources
tell Politico his exit stemmed partly from a power struggle inside
the foundation between and among the coterie of Clinton loyalists who have
surrounded the former president for decades and who helped start and run the
foundation. Some, including the president’s old Arkansas lawyer Bruce Lindsey,
who preceded Braverman as CEO, raised concerns directly to Bill Clinton about
the reforms implemented by Braverman, according to sources, and felt themselves
marginalized by the growing influence of Chelsea Clinton and the new CEO she
had helped recruit.
Trust Us, We're Scientists: Deadly bacteria release sparks concern at
Excerpt: A dangerous, often deadly, type of bacteria that
lives in soil and water has been released from a high-security laboratory at
the Tulane National Primate Research Center
in Louisiana .
Officials say there is no risk to the public.
Excerpt: Chicago
may have to pay $58 million to unwind interest-rate swaps after Moody’s
Investors Service cut the city’s credit rating within two steps of junk because
of mounting pension liabilities.
Excerpt: We got some terrible news last week; the "Big
C"...no, not cancer, more government "Control." Last week the
FCC voted in a 317 page plan to take control over the internet. And, like the
Obamacare legislation, no one has been allowed to read it. That should tell you
something right there. Keep in mind that this was the same FCC proposal that
the current FCC opposed just last year. However, after watching how quickly
Obama replaces DOD Chiefs who don't agree with him, the chairman of the FCC
fell in line and swallowed Obama's massive proposal to take over the internet
whole. For those who don't remember, it was not Al Gore who invented the
internet, his second major lie, after Global Warming. The internet, an method
for computers to talk to each other, was invented by some smart folks back in
the fifties, offered it to AT&T, and Ma Bell turned it down, saying
"why would we want that when we have the telephone?"
Important: U.S.
Excerpt: There was this test. And it was daunting. It was
like the SAT or ACT -- which many American millennials are no doubt familiar
with, as they are on track to be the best educated generation in history --
except this test was not about getting into college. This exam, given in 23
countries, assessed the thinking abilities and workplace skills of adults. It
focused on literacy, math and technological problem-solving. The goal was to
figure out how prepared people are to work in a complex, modern society. And U.S.
millennials performed horribly. That might even be an understatement, given the
extent of the American shortcomings. No matter how you sliced the data – by
class, by race, by education – young Americans were laggards compared to their
international peers. (To be fair, I'm sure the US students excelled at Gender
Studies, Pop Culture, Social Justice and Amerika, Understanding White Privilege
and Aroma Therapy. ~Bob)
Excerpt: What I see of the President reflected in the world
is a man who used his faith as a lie to claim he opposed gay marriage when he
really did not; who spoke out in favor of allowing abortionists to kill
children who survive abortions; who has actively promoted abortion in his
Presidency; who has publicly used the courts to curtail the free exercise of
religion paring it down to a right to worship; who, when he thought he was off
the record, mocked Christians bitterly clinging to guns and religion, etc.,
etc., etc. In fact, that ultimately is it. The President, when he thought he
was off the record and in the advancement of his political agenda, has been no
friend to the church and its orthodox teachings. He trots out religion publicly
as a political tool to help himself, not others. I do not believe the President
is a Christian, but ultimately that is between God and Barack Obama. In my
view, he is outside the church family and should be prayed for, not
judged.
Special Interests
From the email with this link: A well done, short video
explaining WHY the Government won't cut Spending...
Gun News
Homeowner fatally
shoots man kicking in front door, police say
Excerpt: He answered the dispatcher’s questions. Yes, it
just happened. Yes, the man was lying motionless at his door at 1915 Faymeadow Ave.
No, he didn’t appear to be breathing. No, he didn’t know him. The homeowner’s
revolver was still in his hand. “He kicked the door in,” he said. ... Police
identified the dead man last night as 31-year-old Michael Rinehart. ...
Rinehart served four years in prison after being convicted of burglary in
2010.
Clerk Fights Back
During Tobacco Zone Robbery
Excerpt: A clerk fought two masked men for a gun during a
robbery. Police say two men entered the Tobacco Zone on North Broadway on
Friday night. One of the men was armed with a handgun. In the video, you can
see one of the men go behind the counter, open the drawer and put his gun down.
The clerk grabs the gun and points it at the suspects.
Race Card News
The black family in
1965 and today. By Steve Chapman
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/opinion/column/guest/steve-chapman-the-black-family-in-and-today/article_3f6d2a8b-721c-564f-ac8b-540b23b629d7.html
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/opinion/column/guest/steve-chapman-the-black-family-in-and-today/article_3f6d2a8b-721c-564f-ac8b-540b23b629d7.html
Excerpt: Nor is there any doubt that African-American
children would be better off living with their married parents. Kids who grow
up in households headed by a single mother are far more likely than others to
be poor, quit school, get pregnant as teens and end up in jail. But these facts
were once inflammatory. Fifty years ago next month, a Labor Department official
named Daniel Patrick Moynihan published a paper titled, “The Negro Family: The
Case for National Action,” which argued that “a tangle of pathology” afflicting
black communities had emerged because “the Negro family in the urban ghettos is
crumbling.” His key fact: Nearly one-fourth of black babies were born to unwed
mothers. (The same pathologies that destroy the lives underclass blacks in
American cities are destroying the lives of underclass whites in English
cities. I suggest reading Life at the
Bottom by British psychiatrist Anthony Daniels, writing as Theodore
Dalrymple. It's not race, it's culture. ~Bob
Excerpt: First, I acknowledge that there are racist cops,
although it must be said that not all racist cops are white. Bad cops come in
all races. However, I believe that racist cops—regardless of their
race—represent a small minority of the nation’s overall police force. Second, I
am an advocate of community policing. However, although this strategy can help
relieve tension between police officers and black citizens, it will not solve
the problem of black crime in America .
In fact, the issue of black crime in America will never be effectively
dealt with until we can have an honest dialogue about it. And therein is the
rub. As things now stand, the myth of racist cops is being controlled by people
who benefit from perpetuating the false narrative that currently
prevails—people such as Al Sharpton and his supporters in the mainstream media.
Obamacare/Government Healthcare News
Voters Less Hot for
Obamacare Fix
Excerpt: Voters still tend to share an unfavorable opinion
of the new national health care law and say it has hurt more than helped them.
They’re also less enthusiastic this month about fixing the law rather than
repealing it.
Obamacare Is
Punishing Working-Class Americans. By Sally Pipes
Excerpt: Employees at Staples will soon get a little bit
more vacation — thanks to Obamacare. Unfortunately, that time off will be
unpaid — and in most cases, unwelcome. The retailer, which employs 85,000
people, has
limited part-time work to 25 hours a week to avoid Obamacare’s fines
for not providing insurance to those who work 30 or more hours a week.
President Obama refused to acknowledge that his healthcare law played a part in
Staples’ decision.
Excerpt: Britain
has long had an active cash market for medical care provided by private
hospitals, which helps people get around the long waits in the National Health
Service, and also serve people from abroad. Nuffield
Hospitals advertises firm, fixed, all-inclusive prices good for 60
days after an initial consultation. For more complex procedures, one pays for
the initial consultation and the hospital develops the price from that. The
Nuffield price generally includes
post-operative care, rehab, and required readmissions.
"You're Greener than Gore" News
WaPo Fact Checker: Obama’s claim that Keystone XL oil
‘bypasses the U.S.
Excerpt: The president’s latest remarks pushes this
assertion into the Four Pinocchios column. If he disagrees with the State
Department’s findings, he should begin to make the case why it is wrong, rather
than assert the opposite, without any factual basis. Moreover, by telling North Dakota listeners that the pipeline has no benefit
for Americans, he is again being misleading, given that producers in the
region have signed contracts to transport some of their production through
the pipeline.
Religion of Peace News
Obama Admin. Denies
Claim President Threatened to Shoot Down Israeli Fighter Jets Targeting Iran
Excerpt: The Obama administration denied a claim the
president last year threatened to shoot down Israeli fighter jets if they tried
to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities, the Washington Times reported. According to the Times, a senior
administration official said Sunday “that report is totally false.” (I think
Obama would love for Israel
to take out Iran 's
nukes. It would relieve him of doing anything, but allow him to inflame Muslims
and Progressives against Israel .
~Bob)
Excerpt: While anything is possible in the ongoing struggle
between the Obama administration and the state of Israel, a high-level military
source told PJ Media that today’s allegation — that an Israeli attack on Iran
was supposedly imminent in 2014, but Obama warned
Israel that U.S. jets would shoot down the Israelis if they attacked
Iran’s nuclear installations — is not likely true. More likely, the report,
which emerged from Kuwait , is
disinformation timed to discredit Prime Minister Netanyahu and make him
seem a warmonger in advance of his address to Congress Tuesday. The source
stated that, since 2008, it is no longer possible for the U.S. to intercept Israeli jets flying over
Southern Iraq, the normal route to Iran .
Top Netanyahu Aide Suggests Obama Is Withholding Key
Information From Congress on Iran
Excerpt: A senior aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu said that Israel
knows more than Congress does about the elements in the emerging U.S-negotiated
deal over Iran ’s
nuclear program. “We know many details from the agreement being put together,
details that we feel members of Congress are unaware of,” the official told reporters aboard Netanyahu’s plane en route to Washington Sunday,
according to multiple Israeli media outlets. (Come on, would "the most
transparent administration in history" withhold information? Except, of
course, about Obamacare, the IRS targets, fast and Furious, the terrorists
behind the Benghazi
attack...~Bob. I'm wearing my tin
foil psychic hat and predict O will announce a nuke deal with Iran Israel 's
fears about Iran
Standing with Our Friends, Standing Up to Our Enemies. By
Scott Walker
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/414643/standing-our-friends-standing-our-enemies-scott-walker
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/414643/standing-our-friends-standing-our-enemies-scott-walker
Excerpt: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will
address a joint session of Congress this week. We should listen closely as he
raises legitimate concerns about Iran — giving him and his country
the respect worthy of a close ally. Instead, President Obama and some Democrats
have chosen to use this visit as a political football. This is exactly what
Americans dislike about Washington .
Lost amidst the petty squabbling in our nation’s capital over protocol is the
simple fact that the U.S.–Israel relationship is in crisis, perhaps the most
serious crisis in our history.
The Real Crisis in
U.S.-Israel Relations Lies Ahead. By Steven J. Rosen
Excerpt: Benjamin Netanyahu's March 3 speech to
Congress is diverting attention from more important U.S.-Israel controversies
that will escalate soon after this comparatively minor contretemps fizzles out.
At the U.N., the Palestinians and Europeans will press forward after the March
17 Israeli election, submitting draft United Nations Security Council
resolutions that they postponed at the request of Secretary of State John F.
Kerry. They are pressuring the administration to join this effort to impose
terms on Israel ,
and not to veto.
Iraqi premier gives
ultimatum ahead of hinted attack on ISIS-controlled Tikrit
Excerpt: Iraq 's
prime minister called on Sunni tribal fighters to abandon the Islamic State
group Sunday, ahead of a promised offensive to retake Saddam Hussein's hometown
from the extremists. Haider al-Abadi offered no timeline for an attack on
Tikrit, the hometown of the late Iraqi dictator some 80 miles north of Baghdad that fell into
the hands of the Islamic State group last summer. However, Shiite militias and
Iraqi security forces have stationed themselves around Tikrit as state-run
media has warned that the city "will soon return to its people." But
sending Shiite militias into the Sunni city of Tikrit ,
the capital of Iraq 's
Salahuddin province, could reprise the bloody, street-by-street insurgent
battles that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq .
Interesting: The U.S.
Excerpt: On Monday the Iraqi military launched its
largest operation to date against the self-declared Islamic State (IS), also
called ISIS, to retake control of the city of Tikrit . Alongside the Iraqi military the
coalition fighting IS in Tikrit includes Kurdish and Sunni tribal forces, but
it leans heavily on Iranian backed Shia militias and reportedly includes a
contingent from Iran 's
revolutionary guard. The urgent question now as the battle against IS
intensifies is whether any US
policy to defeat IS in Iraq
can achieve its aim without ceding the country as a base for Iranian
expansionism. Critics who regard President Obama's regional policy as aiming
for a grand détente with Iran
have frequently argued that the current approach undermines attempts to counter
IS. The bargain for making a deal with Iran ,
these critics say, has allowed Iran
a free hand to assert dominance in Iraq ,
Syria , Lebanon and Yemen . Exhibit A for this line of
thinking is Iran 's
cultivation of proxy militias in Iraq , principally in the Badr
Organization, Kata'ib Hezbollah and Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq,
Worth Reading
Excerpt: Judicial Watch confirmed Thursday
what many Americans already knew: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s
attempt to blame the attacks in Benghazi
on an “offensive video” was a bald. As the result of a Freedom of Information Act
lawsuit against the State Department, Judicial Watch obtained a series of
critical emails that not only reveal State Department officials
knew immediately the American compound in Benghazi was under attack
but that the attack was perpetrated by assailants tied to a terrorist group.
And despite the infamous exasperated
question from the Democrats' likely presidential nominee, the
truth does make a big difference at this point. (I wonder if the families
of those who died can successfully sue Hillary? ~Bob)
Islamic State ‘Fed
Murdered Man To His Own Mother.’ By Andre Walker
Excerpt: A British man who went to fight with the Kurds
against Islamic State has claimed the terror group fed a desperate mother a
meal of meat and rice before revealing she had eaten her own son. Yasir
Abdulla, 36, from Yorkshire said that the
woman had appealed to IS to release her son when they tricked her.
How Syria
Excerpt: Like many of Syria ’s warriors, Kino Gabriel was
a student four years ago, training to be a dentist. Like many other Syrians, he
resisted the call to war, until he saw the threat to the towns and villages
where he grew up and worshipped. Like countless thousands, he soon found
himself, gun in hand, snow falling in the bitter Syrian winter, fighting for
his life, claiming his first kills. (It's one thing to turn your other cheek.
It is another to fail to fight and thus tacitly allow the murder of your
children and other innocents by exposing their necks to evil. ~Bob)
Obama's War: Rockets kill two, wound 30 in Libya 's Benghazi
Excerpt: Rockets hit residential areas in Libya 's Benghazi
on Sunday, killing at least two people and wounding more than 30 others in
continued fighting over the city, officials said. Nearly four years after the
fall of Muammar Gaddafi , Libya is caught up in a conflict between
two rival governments, one internationally recognized and the other controlling
Tripoli since
its fighters took over the capital in the summer.
Muslim cleric: Those
who don’t respect Muslims have “no right to live.” By Robert Spencer,
JihadWatch.org
Excerpt: Watch the video. He keeps saying that it is not he
who is saying these things, but that they’re Islamic teachings. Will some
Muslim spokesmen in the West who claims to abhor what Mullah Krekar is saying
kindly explain how he is wrong on Islamic grounds? Of course not. And no one in
the mainstream media will ask any of them to do so.
Is Iran Iran
Excerpt: A Christian in Iran who received 80 lashes for
drinking communion wine has been asked to leave the country, human right
activists said.
Agents from the Iranian intelligence service, known as
VEVAK, on Feb. 16 raided the home of Mehdi Reza Omidi and two other members of
house churches in Rasht ,
Saheb Fadaie and Yasser Mosayebzadeh, according to Christian Solidarity
Worldwide (CSW), a United Kingdom-based advocacy group.
M&S bans
customers using the words 'Christ' and 'Jesus Christ' in messages when they are
ordering flowers online - but jihad is okay
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2974554/M-S-bans-customers-using-words-Christ-Jesus-Christ-messages-ordering-flowers-online-jihad-okay.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2974554/M-S-bans-customers-using-words-Christ-Jesus-Christ-messages-ordering-flowers-online-jihad-okay.html
Excerpt: 'Christ' and 'Jesus Christ' join other banned words
including 'f***' and 'gay' - but some terms including jihad, Buddha and Allah
are accepted. 'Terrorist' and 'd**k' can also be included in messages.
Excerpt: “It had been reported that Dr al-Haddad’s talk
could still go ahead.” Of course. The limiting of the freedom of speech in Britain is all
in the direction of shutting down critics of jihad terror, not those who
justify and enable it. Haitham al-Haddad is the voice of Britain ’s future.
*****
Robert A. Hall is a Marine Vietnam Veteran who served five
terms in the Massachusetts State Senate. He is the author of The Coming Collapse of the American Republic.
http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304815980&sr=1-5
For a free PDF of Collapse, e-mail him at tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Hall’s
eleven books are listed here:
http://tartanmarine.blogspot.com/2010/07/new-book-published.html.
His blog of political news and conservative comment is www.tartanmarine.blogspot.com.
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